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For decades, war has been something that every generation of human beings has had to experience one way or another. In the information age, war will not be fought by humans but with machines. Many advancements such as unmanned drones and accurate missiles has made fighting more ‘safe’ by avoiding direct human presence on the battlefield. Perhaps in the next twenty years or less, mankind will reach a stage where there will not be a soldier on the battlefield given the world super powers do not resort to nuclear missiles. Over a decade ago, the globe was shocked to find Iraq which happened to be the 5th largest military in the world invaded Kuwait. Luckily, the Iraqi military had several weaknesses that hindered their performance [2].
In August of 1990, Iraq officially mobilized its army and invaded Kuwait. Iraq had assumed that the United States and Saudi Arabia were on good terms, and that any aggression used by the Iraqi military on Kuwait would not elicit a drastic response. This notion of inactivity from the United States and Saudi Arabia stemmed up when they both secretly supported Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war [1]. It took the Iraqi military one whole day to capture Kuwait city, and in doing so stole the army raped and murder innocent civilians [1]. To add to those devastating events, Sadam Hussein who was the president of Iraq, had intentions to invade Saudi Arabia. The United States quickly mobilized its military on August 6th in an effort to defend Saudi Arabia should the Iraqi army invade by breaching the boarder located north [1]. This marked the beginning of operation desert shield, which was tasked to General Norman Schwarzkopf [1]. On August 6th, the “UN Security Council passed a stronger resolution than their first, asking member nations to support an embargo against Iraq”. The resolution’s purpose was to prompt Iraq to withdraw its military presence from Kuwait without resorting to violence. One problem that had to be avoided was for the United States to include it self as the only nation defending Saudi Arabia. Such a thing could spark conflict against the United States. That meant other Arab nations could have had a unified goal against the United States and in turn side with Sadam Hussein. Another viable factor as to why the United States wanted to avoid being the only nation defending Saudi Arabia was with the poor diplomatic relations with the Muslim world and Israel. Even in current times, many Islamic nations oppose Israel’s way of governance and military action against the Palestinians. To avoid adding more fuel to an already lit flame, “34 nations pledged some form of military support and another 14 provided financial or other aid.” [1]. In November of 1990, The United States was granted the chairmanship of the UN Security Council. [1] On November 29th, the United States was able to create the UN Resolution 678, which gave Iraq January 15th 1991 as the last day to withdraw its forces from Kuwait before hostile action is used against them. According to the book America at War: Persian Gulf War, “…the first of December 1990 and the middle of January 1991 Arab and European diplomats launched various peace initiatives to try to work out some sort of compromise” [1]. January 9th marked the last day the United States attempted peace talks with Iraq.
On January 16th 1991, Coalition forces launched Operation Desert Storm. The first course of military action were air strikes conducted by coalition forces on key targets. On January 18th – 19th, the Iraqi military fired scud missiles into Israel to elicit military involvement. Sadam Hussein’s strategy was initially to create a sense of distrust between the European and Arab states who partook themselves in the coalition. Hussein predicted this would convince the Arab states to disband the coalition or turn against it to grind a halt on military action against the Iraqi army. However, that plan failed when the United States prompted Israel to avoid being involved[1]. On February 24th, Operation Desert Storm moved on its second phase which was moving directly into Kuwait breaching Iraqi defense forces from Saudi Arabia. Allied forces were able to push north into Iraq and carve them selves into Kuwait on the western border. By February 26th, two days after phase 2 of Operation Desert Storm, Coalition forces were able to re-capture Kuwait City forcing the Iraqi military to retreat. The reason as to why Hussein’s military was incompetent was to do with poor equipment, lack of necessities (such as food and water) for its soldiers, and poor tactic.
The war with Sadam Hussein was just beginning. Prior to March 2003, there were talks in the United States on strategies to deploy troops into Iraq to destroy its corrupt governance. On March 19th 2003, intel brought from CIA ground operatives in Baghdad were able to identify Sadam Hussein and his two sons going to a complex called Dora Farm [3]. This meant that if the United States armed forces were able to kill or capture Sadam Hussein, it can give them a major advantage in essentially ridding Iraq of Hussein’s influence. At 5:30 AM (Baghdad local time), two fighter jets dropped bombs onto Dora Farm [3]. Strangely on March 20th, Sadam Hussein appeared on television to inspire hope and confidence in the people of Iraq to take up arms against the United States and its allies. The intel provided by the CIA was surprisingly wrong. When fighting erupted in Iraq, the United State’s intelligence community thought of a clever idea to bring Iraq’s military elites onto their side. The Iraqi military was growing frustrated and tired of Hussein because they were being victimized. This in turn would open doors to additional intelligence that would thus speed the process of the invasion by the U.S Army and its allies. On March 17th 2003, President Bush delivered a public announcement directed at Sadam Hussein and his sons to “…leave Iraq without any immunity or protection. Their refusal to do so will result in military conflict, commenced at a time of our choosing” [3]. By middle March, there were several special forces moving across the boarder into Iraq day-by-day to complete pressing objectives. Of the many objectives, the main ones were to find weapons of mass destruction, locate ballistic missiles, and gather intel. On the 19th and 20th of March, the direct engagement of Coalition forces against the Iraqi military made the war against Iraq official. The direct engagement began on the road toward Basra which is located far east in Iraq [3]. The United States received intel once again on April 7th that Sadam Hussein was spotted at a restaurant. Shortly after, the U.S air force dropped bombs and rather than killing their intended target, killed numerous civilians.
On December 30th of 2006, Sadam Hussein was convicted of crimes against humanity. Hussein’s rein on killing countless innocent people in Iraq, along with the atrocities in Kuwait have finally been paid with Hussein’s life. Sadam Hussein was hanged on live television and that brought joy to many people. If it was not for the U.S led coalition, Iraq would have risen to be a powerful nation governed by a tyrant. According to The Balance, it was estimated that the war in Iraq from 2003 until 2011 costed the United States 1.06 trillion dollars [4]. That much money could have been put to much better use such as improving and solving problems in health care, quality of life, infrastructure, community services, education and more. In 2001, the United States woke up to a terrifying new enemy, who were called the Taliban. The war on terror was brought to light when two planes struck the twin towers on September 11th, 2001. Two years after in 2003, the Taliban shifted their attention on the U.S Army signaling an official war on terror. Mullah Dadullah who was a Taliban commander was interviewed by Al Jazeera in 2006, “in which he explained how the Iraq War has influenced the Taliban” [5]. What motivated the growth of the Taliban and hatred towards the coalition forces (which mainly consisted of soldiers from the United States, England, Australia, and Canada) was that people found “American atrocities” [5] during the Iraq War. Another contributing factor was the fact that coalition forces killed a number of innocent civilians and leveled buildings giving the impression that the Army did not really care about civilian casualties let alone buildings important to the people.
The two movies that represent the events of the Iraq war are Green Zone which was directed by Paul Greengrass and American Sniper whom was directed by Clint Eastwood. Out of the two movies, Green Zone best represented the events along with the chaos from the invasion of Coalition forces in Iraq. The film is focused on the weapons of mass destruction program initiated by Sadam Hussein rather than other countless objectives such as finding highly-valued target government officials, or providing intelligence reports. Green Zone delivered a more accurate representation of what the Iraq war of 2003 was like. Throughout the film, dead bodies, blown up buildings, soldiers patrolling the streets along with helicopters surveying in the night and more truly shows the invasion and dismantling of Iraq. The movie’s accuracy in intel not being accurate reflected how much effort the director put into ensuring the film was a more realistic and accurate representation of the conflict in Iraq. As stated previously in this paper, the CIA’s ground operatives have missed intel on Sadam Hussein’s (and his son’s) locations on two counts. It is appears that something deeper than over throwing the government of Iraq is presented in the film to reflect the United State’s true objects. Those objectives were to dismantle Sadam Hussein’s grip on Iraq and establish democracy in Iraq. The fact that the WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) program was lied about gave leeway for coalition forces to complete other duties that were not disclosed to the public. Green Zone showed the impact of the war on civilians who were caught between the brute Iraqi forces (or what was left of them) and overly-aggressive U.S soldiers. One key character named Freddy made it easier for viewers to sympathize with him by involving dialogue that makes people question how the U.S treated civilians in Iraq. In an interesting scene between Roy Miller played by Matt Daemon, a chief whose duty was to locate and salvage WMD’s, and Freddy played by Khalid Abdalla expresses the point: “Reward? You think I do this for money? You think I don’t care about my country? I see what’s happening. You don’t think I see what’s happen in it? And all the people now, even they have no water, they have no electricity, you think I do this for reward?... I want to help my country.” [7].
In comparison with Green Zone, American Sniper directed by Clint Eastwood also did a good job in creating a melancholic atmosphere, however viewers were not able to sympathize with it enough because there were no key characters who played the role of being a civilian caught in the Iraq war. Although both films showed only America’s view of the Iraq war, it is as though the depiction of U.S soldiers in American Sniper are brash, careless and extremely violent towards the locals. It displays a sense of distrust in the U.S government or breeds hatred against it. Either of the two could be true, but it is as though American Sniper has a political motive to display the United States as the good guys no matter what the cost of their mission truly is. Another aspect of American Sniper that is lacking is the focus on Chris Kyle, played by Bradley Cooper rather than the over all conflict present in Iraq. It also shows Iraqis as anti-American in numerous occasions such as the beginning of the movie where a child and his mother are seen attempting to murder American soldiers.
It is best said that the Iraq / Gulf war of 1991 and 2003 was one of the most gruesome battles fought up to date. Sadam Hussein’s governance of Iraq led many to believe that he was a man whose actions made him look like a clone of Hitler and that if he was not stopped by coalition forces, would have conquered much of its neighbouring countries. Both movies do a good job in displaying the tension of the Iraq war, however Green Zone proved to be more fruitful in capturing Iraq’s true struggle more notably by allowing one of the protagonists to be an Iraqi civilian.
Bibliography
[1] Carlisle, R. P. (2010). America at War: Persian Gulf War (Revised Edition ed.). New York, NY: Chelsea House
[2] Broder, J. M., & Jehl, D. (1990, August 13). Iraqi Army: World's 5th Largest but Full of Vital Weaknesses: Military: It will soon be even larger. But its senior staff is full of incompetents and only a third of its troops are experienced . L.A Times. Retrieved March 17, 2017, from http://articles.latimes.com/1990-08-13/news/mn-465_1_iraqi-army
[3] Bodansky, Y. (2004). The Secret History of the Iraq War. New York, NY: Regan Books.
[4] Amadeo, K. (2017, January 17). Cost of Iraq War: Timeline, Economic Impact. Retrieved March 16, 2017, from https://www.thebalance.com/cost-of-iraq-war-timeline-economic-impact-3306301
[5] The Iraq Effect: The War in Iraq and Its Impact on the War on Terrorism - Pg. 4. (2007, March 1). Mother Jones. Retrieved March 15, 2017, from http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/03/iraq-effect-war-iraq-and-its-impact-war-terrorism-pg-4
[6] Mackintosh, E., & Atassi, B. (2016, December 29). 'I was shocked': Iraqis remember day Saddam Hussein was hanged. CNN. Retrieved March 19, 2017, from http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/29/middleeast/iraqi-voices-saddam-execution/
[7] Greengrass, P. (Director), Greengrass, P., Bevan, T., Fellner, E., & Levin, L. (Producers), & Helgeland, B., & Chandrasekaran, R. (Writers). (2010). Green Zone[Motion picture on DVD]. United States: Universal.
[8] Eastwood, C. (Director), Hall, J., Miller, S., & Gallner, K. (Writers), & Eastwood, C., Lorenz, R., Lazar, A., Cooper, B., & Morgan, P. (Producers). (2014). American Sniper [Motion picture on DVD]. United States: Warner Bros.
